


Not Dying Young

by wishingwell44



Series: Playlist [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Modern Era, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-War, Slice of Life, Songfic, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 13:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18874396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishingwell44/pseuds/wishingwell44
Summary: Throughout the years, they kept waking up to see another day.





	Not Dying Young

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the song One Less Day (Dying Young) by Rob Thomas because I find it incredibly catchy and cannot for the life of me get it out of my head. 
> 
> So I wrote something! Un-Beta'd.
> 
> All rights belong to Rob Thomas and Marvel respectively.

**1940: Steve**

Steve woke up to hear the sounds of Brooklyn again.

The sound of the cars.

The sound of the feral cats that roamed his apartment complex. 

He woke up. 

Not all days were a surprise. Just some more than others. The days when he was getting over something that he caught. The days after he ran himself to the ground from working. The days after when he was always being punched. 

He was relieved. He can see another day. 

The world around him wasn’t built for him, but he was going to make the most of what he can do. So after days like this, where he was relieved to hear the cars of Brooklyn, the sounds of the feral cats, he sat in his apartment and painted. 

Steve would hear the door open and see Bucky wipe the sweat off of his forehead and look up to the soft smiles when he saw his friend come back home.

**2017: Bucky**

Bucky looked over at Steve. They got through days of hiking, of missions, of war. He could still see the Steve he once knew. Still see the Steve he grew up with. The smaller man with a heart four times the size of everyone else. 

They had to move forward to try and fix the world that had been messed up. Keep moving forward in one direction like a fast moving train. Bucky tried not to think about all the times he could have been closer, all the times he could have been gone back in time and fixed all the shit he stirred up, all the mistakes he had made. 

Gone back and told Steve how he felt.

But he had time.

Because every day he wasn’t killed, was another day to try and try again.

**1941: Steve**

Steve would breathe in the smog. Breathe in the fumes from the factories, as he looked at the ground in front of him. He placed his hands into his large pants pockets. It was nice out for a mid-spring day. 

It was a nice day to see a movie. 

Since he had today, he will probably have tomorrow to do it all again.

**1991: Bucky**

 

He shifted on the cold ground, as he placed his gun near him, as he heard the whimpers and screams that came from the crashed car. 

He targeted the tires as Stark whipped around the bend, trying to get home quickly for no apparent reason. If the roads were slick, they would have died anyway.

He was just fulfilling orders. 

He walked over to the car, hearing the ‘ _ oh thank God’ _ ’s and the ‘ _ please find a payphone’ _ ’s but he just stood there, looking at the blood dripping down her face. He took a look at the man he thought he remembered outside of the files, but the greying and the wrinkles didn’t help in identifying. 

He reached out tentatively, and something ticked in his mind. 

He grabbed her neck.

The only thing he heard was the dripping of gasoline from the car.

Walking away, he grabbed his gun, breaking it apart and throwing it in the forest. 

He stole someone’s jacket and dipped into the bar. 

He wasn’t allowed to do this, but he felt a need for a drink.

A whiskey. 

By the back of the bar the lights were low. He swirled the glass and thought of a time when he was not in America. Music flowed, and he was looking at a man, somehow now taller than him, thinking how he managed to weasel his way into the Army. 

Or if he would keep the suit.

**2012: Steve**

Steve woke up to the sounds of a New York. 

The sound of cars.

The sound of a baseball game.

The sound of a baseball game that had already occurred. 

He crashed the plane.

He lost Bucky. 

He lost the world he lived in. 

He woke up to a room too clean. A room that was made of plywood and cheap fabric.

But he wasn’t dead. 

Not in the slightest. 

He survived 70 years in the ice. His body slowed down to the brink of death without aging a month. Whatever they gave him was probably permanent. 

Even though he was burning the candle at both ends, he chose the fight. He chose to live in the strange world that didn’t stop. He was sort of alone. 

Steve’s friends had died, or were too old. He was stuck in an era that he had no ways to balance. 

Steve kept waking up, each day, not getting younger, and able to move on, because if he was given this chance, he had to roll with the punches.

**1940: Bucky**

Bucky opened up the door to the apartment. Their apartment. 

The apartment. 

He saw Steve at the canvas, painting away. Looking over his shoulder and giving a small smile over his shoulder. 

He was stuck in bed for the past week. A fever for the first few days, and his body too weak to recover.

But Steve woke up.

He woke up and was able to get out of bed. 

It was part of Steve’s resilience. His strength that God didn’t think he had, but Steve would always prove time and time again. 

That’s what Bucky loved about Steve.

**2018: Steve**

Steve kept waking up. 

The sounds of the plane speeding in the air. 

He was excited to get to Wakanda - the second time since Bucky was back from his sleep in Cryo. 

He would get off the plane.

He would see him there, standing with a smile on his face. 

Rested. 

Relaxed. 

They would go inside, and when they were alone Steve would hold his hand, smile, lean in, and kiss Bucky. 

He would feel the smile spread across Bucky's lips as he accepted. 

Because as the years ticked by, they weren’t getting any younger. They weren’t able to turn back the clocks and change what happened. 

They were here together, still waking up. 

Still living to see another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive crit always welcome.


End file.
